‘Perpetual Pilgrims’ chosen to walk 3,300 miles with the Eucharist this summer

Perpetual Pilgrims from the St. Juan Diego Route process into Lucas Oil Stadium in July 2024 with an image of their patron saint. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

CNA Staff, Mar 6, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

The National Eucharistic Congress announced this week the names of the eight Perpetual Pilgrims who will accompany the Eucharistic Jesus on a 3,300-mile walking pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles this summer, beginning in May.

The latest iteration of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, dubbed the Drexel Route, was announced in mid-February, while the biographies of the pilgrims were posted online this week. 

This year’s pilgrimage is a continuation of last year’s unprecedented four simultaneous Eucharistic pilgrimages, which started at the edges of the country and eventually converged in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress in July 2024. 

The goal of the pilgrimages is to bear public witness to the truth that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. 

This year’s Drexel Route will open with a Mass of Thanksgiving in Indianapolis on Sunday, May 18. The route then heads northwest through Illinois to Iowa before turning to the southwest and descending through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. From Texas the route continues roughly west through New Mexico, Arizona, and finally California.

Over a quarter of a million people across the country encountered the pilgrimages last summer, organizers said. As with last year, the small group of young adult Perpetual Pilgrims will accompany the Eucharist the entire way, while any person wishing to join for small portions of the route will be able to sign up to do so.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage website includes biographies for each of the eight young Perpetual Pilgrims who will be walking the entire route with Jesus. 

Arthur “Ace” Acuña is originally from Las Vegas and graduated from Princeton University in 2023 with a degree in chemical and biological engineering. He works for the Aquinas Institute — Princeton’s campus ministry — finding creative ways to share the joys of the Catholic faith with students. 

Stephen Fuhrmann is from Lindsay, Texas, and plans to graduate from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural business. He developed a deep love for Jesus in the Eucharist while in college. 

Johnathan “Johnny” Silvino Hernandez-Jose resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and helps run his family’s construction company. He has a heart for service in his diocese, assisting with confirmation, young adult groups, and a ministry for the Hispanic community. 

Cheyenne Johnson is originally from Lakeland, Florida, and currently lives in Indianapolis, where she serves as the director of Catholic campus ministry at Butler University. She is a convert to Catholicism. 

Leslie Reyes-Hernandez is from Phoenix, originally from Illinois, and teaches freshman algebra at a public high school. She encountered Christ’s love through the Eucharist in college and serves in college ministry at the Grand Canyon University Newman Center. 

Rachel Levy grew up in small-town Indiana and graduated from Indiana University with a degree in marketing before transitioning to full-time ministry. She currently serves the Office of Young Adult and College Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, accompanying young adults in their faith journey. 

Frances Webber, originally from Virginia but currently living in Minnesota, is a senior in college studying theology and business. She works for the Center for Catholic Social Thought and is involved with Saint Paul’s Outreach. 

Charlie McCullough, a recent Texas A&M graduate, is the only 2025 pilgrim who is a returner from last year. In 2024 he completed the southern Juan Diego Route, which began in Brownsville, Texas; this year he will serve as team leader for the Drexel Route. 

Speaking to CNA last year ahead of the first round of pilgrimages, McCullough expressed openness to God radically altering the course of his life during the pilgrimage. He said at the time that he was most looking forward to being able to help people experience small, “seemingly insignificant” interactions with Christ in the Eucharist that “radically change everything.”

“My hope for the pilgrimage is that every person that we encounter has something stir inside of them that makes them question: ‘Why do I feel differently when I was encountered by this procession? … What if that is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ?’” McCullough said in 2024.

“I have full confidence that Jesus Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist and if the pilgrimage simply stirs questions in the hearts of those that we encounter, I know that those questions will be answered with the truth.”

The 2025 pilgrimage route will include numerous opportunities to encounter the Eucharistic Jesus, including daily Mass, Eucharistic adoration, Eucharistic processions, witness talks, and fellowship meals with the Perpetual Pilgrims, organizers said.

Like last year’s events, this year’s pilgrimage will focus on Eucharistic encounters with marginalized communities, bringing the Eucharist to assisted-living facilities, food banks, a juvenile detention center, a hospital, and a federal prison along the route.

In addition, there will be a number of stops with particular significance to Catholics along the way: the tomb of Venerable Fulton Sheen in Illinois; the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother in Oklahoma City; several mission churches in Southern California; and St. Michael Church near Window Rock, which is the capital of the Navajo Nation in the southwestern desert.

In honor of the ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope, there will be an additional focus on Eucharistic healing, organizers said.

Prayer intentions for the pilgrims to carry with them on their journey can be submitted here.